In Another World
by Kitten With A Tie
Summary: ThunderClan has changed. No more friendly, cheerful warriors. Welcome to the Clan where apprentices are slaves. Apprentices must beat their mentor in order to become a warrior. Either that, or join StarClan early. In another world... in another place... where no cat is welcome, no cat is treated equally.
1. Chapter 1: Battle Training

**Okay. This is a fanfic about... well, you'd better read to find out. (: This is told in Smallpaw's POV- may switch to the other apprentice's. :D Enjoy |D I've had this idea in my head for a while.**

**- x -**

_This may be the most frightening day of my entire life. _I waited outside the nursery, my ears flattened and my brown tabby pelt bristling a little. Today was the day I was going to be an apprentice. I'll tell you this - I would be excited, but ThunderClan's changed since Bramblestar's become leader.

Apprentices are treated like slaves. To be a warrior, you have to survive the final assesment- surviving the battle against your own mentor.

I shivered as I remembered little Brownpaw, who had been lay in the middle of the camp, his throat slashed out and blood flowing from his wounds. Ferncloud had been grief-stricken, yet Bramblestar had only twitched his whiskers and Dustpelt had hauled the mound of bloody fur into the forest to be buried.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the highledge for a Clan meeting," yowled Bramblestar. Cats padded into the clearing, their heads lowered and eyes glittering.

I licked down the fur on my shoulders before padding out of the entry to the nursery and into the clearing. "Littlekit, Frostkit, Blackkit, and Hawkkit have reached six moons, and are old enough to become apprentices," Bramblestar announced, his powerful shoulders flexing beneath his scarred pelt.

I waited impatiently as Frostkit, Blackkit, and Hawkkit became Frostpaw, Blackpaw, and Hawkpaw. I yowled Hawkpaw's name to StarClan. I wasn't just Hawkpaw's denmate- I wanted to be _more _then that.

Hawkpaw's mentor was Sandstorm. The ginger she-cat looked gaunt and hungry, her whiskers drooping and her fur thin and showing every one of her ribs. "I will teach Hawkpaw everything I know," she rasped, licking the tip of the brown tom's nose.

I ran up onto the rock eagerly, my eyes wide with excitemement, despite the fact that when I became an apprentice, nothing would be the same again.

"Dustpelt will be your mentor," Bramblestar mewed, waving his tail, completely ignoring the proper ceremony as he had done with Hawkpaw and the others. Dustpelt padded up. Instead of having the same, thin, hungry pelt, he was sleek and well-fed, his plump belly showing beneath his brown tabby pelt.

"I will teach Smallpaw everything I know," he sneered. Instead of licking me, he only gave my nose a nip. I winced a little.

"The meeting is over," Bramblestar announced, then padded into his den. "Come on," Dustpelt snorted, and led me into the forest. "Sandstorm will be training with us," he muttered. "She looks like she couldn't win a scuffle with a kit, though."

I was very curious. Why did Dustpelt talk evil about Sandstorm?

**- x -**

Hawkpaw circled me in the sand hollow. Sandstorm had caught up with us, with Hawkpaw at her side. Dustpelt had reluctantly let Sandstorm train with us.

Hawkpaw pounced, his claws sheathed, paws outstretched. I quickly dodged and sent a careful blow to the side of his ear. He crashed to the ground, but he scrambled to his feet and pounced again. I let him tackle me, and I let myself go limp in his grip.

Hawkpaw blinked his green eyes triumphantly. "I win!" he announced. I grinned and kicked my paws against his belly. He gasped and collapsed on top of me. I wriggled out from under him and turned him over with my paws and planted them firmly on his chest.

"No," I say. "_I _win!"

Hawkpaw narrowed his eyes. "You cheated," he protested, but there was a friendly gleam in his eyes. I opened my mouth to prepare him with a cheerful retort, but I suddenly felt claws pierce my side, and I gasped and fell to the side.

Dustpelt's hostile amber gaze burned into mine as he dug his claws into my belly. "That was the most horrible battle practice I've ever seen," the deputy snarled. "Claws sheathed? _Careful _moves? Who taught you how to fight- kittypets?"

I flattened my ears and narrowed my eyes. His words were like a blow to the muzzle. He let me up. "Now, _fight,_" he snarled. "And keep your claws unsheathed!"

I faced Hawkpaw. He was uneasy, but his claws were unsheathed. He shifted his weight when he saw me staring at his sharp claws. "Sorry," he whispered guiltily. Then he pounced. I dodged out of the way, but Hawkpaw realized the move and his claws scraped my shoulder.

I grinned at the little wound, for it stung a little. Then I nipped his tail and he fell again, his legs splayed out like a dead frog. I pounced on him, and I grabbed his scruff and shook my head furiously. Hawkpaw turned beneath me, and I fell on his belly.

For a moment, we were frozen, nose pressed against nose, blue meeting green. Then Hawkpaw gave a cocky grin and pushed me, and I grunted crossly and fell into his neck fur. He pushed me again, and I fell backwards.

He jumped, and I barely got out of the way as his claws slashed my cheek. Blood sprayed from the wound, staining the tawny ground. Hawkpaw gasped. "Sorry!" I grinned again. "Don't say you're sorry," I told him, jumping for his haunches, causing his hindlegs to buckle.

"Enough!" Dustpelt yowled. We had been fighting for a few more minutes. "Go and find the tree near WindClan border. You will be sleeping there for the rest of the moon." I flattened my ears. Was this punishment?

"Sandstorm." He flicked his tail towards the ginger tabby, who had been hunched over, her thin belly fur brushing the sand. "Go and fetch the other apprentices. Make them bring prey and moss."

Sandstorm gave a slow nod before bounding away. Dustpelt's gaze flicked towards Hawkpaw and I. "Hawkpaw, you will go to Jayfeather and get herbs." Hawkpaw flattened his ears, but nodded and trotted away. "Smallpaw," he growled.

My heart quickened. "Go and find the tree," he hissed. "If you find any prey, catch it and bring it to the tree." I nodded and padded off into ThunderClan's territory.

**- x -**

I caught a squirrel and a rabbit on the way to the tree near WindClan's border. It was tall and thick, with large leaves and thick roots. There was a hole in the roots, and I squeezed through it. Inside of the tree, the scent of must and leaves filled my nose.

It was dim, but I could see a little. Beneath my paws was dirt and leaves. I nudged the leaves near the edge of the tree, and smoothed down the dirt.

I then nudged the leaves across the ground. I pricked my ears as the sound of pawsteps filled my ears, and turned my head to see Frostpaw stick her head into the den. Her blue eyes shone dully in the dim light.

"Hello," she mewed. Her mouth was full of something. She dropped it near my paws. Moss. "Spread it around," I suggested. Frostpaw gave a nod and began to push the moss around the den.

"Blackpaw says that Birchfall treats him like a kit," Frostpaw says. I snorted, but say nothing. "But he was nice. Thornclaw isn't so bad," she added.

"Yeah." I stood hunched in front of the entrance, waiting patiently for Blackpaw and Hawkpaw. "Blackpaw is bringing prey," Frostpaw tells me. "He was right behind me. Had a two rabbits and a thrush."

I purred. "Did he catch it?"  
"He caught the thrush. Thornclaw was the one who secretly gave him the two rabbits."

"I caught a squirrel and a rabbit," I say, flicking my tail towards the shapes of the prey. I had dug a hole and pushed them in.

I jumped backwards as a head pushed through the roots. Blackpaw! The black tom's narrow muzzle could be recigonized anywhere.

He was holding a squirrel. He dropped it at my paws. "The rabbits can't fit," he panted. "They're too fat. I'll have to bring it in next. Hawkpaw is behind me- he has herbs for your wounds."

I picked up the squirrel and padded towards the small fresh-kill pile. Blackpaw had squeezed in, carrying the two rabbits. Hawkpaw was behind him, hauling a mouthful of fat green leaves.

Hawkpaw dropped the herbs in front of me. "Rub them on," he urged. I picked it up and chewed it up, then spat it on my paw and rubbed it on my wounds. Hawkpaw picked up one of the leaves and chewed it up, then licked it up on his pelt.

"Lets eat, then get some sleep," Blackpaw suggested. He had one of the rabbits at the tips of his paws- Frostpaw immediatly took a large bite out of it.

I grabbed a squirrel and dug into it, then pushed it towards Hawkpaw, who had been waiting for his turn. I went to one of the nests and collapsed- I sighed with comfort as Hawkpaw trotted over and lay down beside me, grooming my shoulder. The laps grew more and more shorter until they stopped, and Hawkpaw had fallen asleep. I closed my eyes, and let my breathing match Hawkpaw's before tumbling into a confusing sleep.

**- x -**

**WHOOO. It's finally done! :D Anyway, this isn't the start of the apprentice's torture... in other terms, Dustpelt was being nice to Smallpaw. And Bramblestar is like his father, just not ambitious, just... evil. **


	2. Chapter 2: Wake Up Call

**- x -**

_It is time. Time to _wake up. Blackpaw, Frostpaw, and Hawkpaw are already up, sharing the last rabbit in the tiny fresh-kill pile. I wake up, my pelt ruffled, eyes fuzzy. I make out the blurry shape of Frostpaw, who has her grey back to me. I get up, shake scraps of moss and leaves from my pelt, and pad over.

Hawkpaw looks up, and his green eyes brighten. He pulls a leg off of the rabbit and pads over. He drops it at my feet and looks up, smiling. "I saved it for you," he meows. "Blackpaw was going to eat it." Blackpaw glances up from his breakfast, grinning.

"Hey, Birchfall told me that apprentices can only eat once in the morning, and once at night," he says, then leans over and devours the rabbit. When he speaks, my ears perk and I quickly gobble up the leg. I chew on the bone, desperate to get every last scrap of meat off of it.

I hear the ferns from outside rustle, and I look up, shivering a little. "What are you doing?" snarled Dustpelt. "It's way past sunhigh. Thornclaw and Birchfall weren't too happy when they learned you were in your den, snoring away like a bunch of starlings."

Dustpelt was totally vurnelable- his head was poking through the hole, and I knew that with his fat head he would probably be stuck.

I snickered, but then I let it out with a cough. "Alright, Dustpelt," I say quietly. "You're training with Thornclaw and Birchfall today," he growled. "Hawkpaw, Sandstorm is sick today. You're with Blackpaw, Smallpaw, and Frostpaw."

Then his head snapped out of the hole, and his pawsteps echoed away. I looked at Hawkpaw. The tip of his tail was twitching with excitement. "Lets go before Dustpelt tries to get in here," I say.

We bound out of the tree, each in a hurry to squeeze out of the hole. Once in the forest, the cooling, warm scents filled our nostrils and cooled down our pelts. "Blackpaw!" We turned our head to see Blackpaw veer sharply into the growth.

We followed him, grumbling. Thornclaw and Birchfall were sitting in the sandy hollow, their tails curled neatly around their paws. Beside them was Ferncloud, who was sittingon the sand, her whiskers trembling.

"Hello, apprentices," Thornclaw meowed in a strange, friendly tone. "Today, you are going to learn the wonders of mating."

**- x -**

**Looool. Weird ending, right? Review! This chapter is really short, though. xD**


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